Workstation RFID reader for surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays and methods of using same

• US 20060119481A1
• Filed: 12/08/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: SDGI Holdings Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Nycz, Jeffrey H., Varner, Robert, Tethrake, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,268,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/065 for measuring contact or contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 50/10 Furniture specially adapted for surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 50/33 Trays
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/90 Identification means for patients or instruments, e.g. tags
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders

Abstract

A radio frequency identification (RFID) workstation reader for RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays and a method of using a RFID workstation reader to read RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays is disclosed. The method, apparatus, and system enable individual instruments or a surgical instrument tray containing several surgical instruments to be quickly and efficiently inventoried and tracked. An instrument or instrument tray is placed on the workstation reader. An RF field generated by a plurality of antennae, causes RFID tags embedded in or attached to the instrument or instrument tray to emit a signal containing item specific identification information stored in the tags. The information is received by a control circuit and passed to a computer for data analysis. A status LED is illuminated on the workstation reader based on the results of the data analysis. The method, apparatus, and system can track, inspect, and verify inbound and outbound surgical instrument kits, and help to assess the surgical instruments'"'"' and trays'"'"' duty life cycle usage.

Claims

1. An apparatus for identifying surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays, comprising:

a stationary RFID workstation reader having a substantially planar work surface dimensioned to support one or more surgical instrument trays;

one or more RF antenna transceivers arranged on the stationary RFID workstation reader operable to project an RF field onto the substantially planar work surface to activate an RFID transponder tag associated with at least one of a surgical instrument tray and a surgical instrument and to receive a signal emitted by the RFID transponder tag located within the RF field, said signal containing identification information of the item to which the RFID transponder tag corresponds;

a control circuit communicatively connected to the one or more RF antenna transceivers for processing the information received from RFID transponder tags to determine compliance with at least one predetermined condition;

an indicator on the stationary RFID workstation reader for indicating compliance with the at least one predetermined condition.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit further comprises a data link to a computer database storing information related to surgical instrument trays including a list of surgical instruments that should be included on particular surgical instrument tray.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one predetermined condition is whether or not all surgical instruments that should be included on a particular surgical instrument tray are included.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information comprises at least one of an identification name, an identification number, a manufacture name, a manufacture date, a date of first use, and a date of last update.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises a light emitting diode (LED) panel having one or more status LEDs.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the LED panel comprises at least a red LED and a green LED.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, said control circuit further comprising a data link to a printer operable to print report related to compliance with the at least one predetermined condition.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, said control circuit further comprising means for writing new information to RFID tags using the one or more RF antenna transceivers.

9. A method of wirelessly inventorying surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays, using an RFID workstation reader comprising:

placing a surgical instrument tray comprising one or more surgical instruments on a work top surface of an RFID workstation reader, wherein said surgical instrument tray and said one or more surgical instruments each comprise an RFID transponder tag;

activating each RFID transponder tag by projecting an RF field onto the work top surface of the RFID workstation reader with one or more RF antenna transceivers attached to the RFID workstation reader;

receiving a signal from each activated RFID transponder tag comprising identification information stored in each tag;

information with said one or more RF antenna transceivers;

comparing said identification information with information stored in a computer database, including determining any mismatch between said identification information and said stored information;

activating an indicator which indicates a state of the surgical instrument tray based on said comparison.

10. The method according to claim 9, said identification information comprising at least one of an identification name, an identification number, a manufacture name, a manufacture date, a date of first use, and a date of last update.

11. The method according to claim 10, the step of comparing said identification information with information stored a computer database comprising comparing the surgical instruments that are actually present on the surgical instrument tray with those that are known to correspond with that surgical instrument tray.

12. The method according to claim 10, the step of comparing said identification information with information stored a computer database comprising determining if any surgical instruments have reached the end of their useful life based on length of use.

13. The method according to claim 9, the step of activating an indicator comprising activating an LED.

14. The method according to claim 13, activating an LED further comprising activating a green LED if no mismatch is determined and activating a red LED if a mismatch is determined.

15. The method according to claim 9, the step of activating an indicator comprising activating an audio and/or visual indicator on the computer housing the computer database.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising, if a mismatch is determined, printing a report detailing the specific nature of the mismatch.

17. The method according to claim 9, further comprising writing new information to each RFID transponder tag including the current date of processing.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions therein for causing a computer processor to perform functions related to tracking of surgical instrument trays, comprising:

instructions for generating an RF field with one or more RF antenna transceivers to activate any RF transponder tags within the RF field;

instructions for receiving a signal emitted by each of the RF transponder tags containing identification information relating to items that the tags correspond to;

instructions for comparing said identification information to information stored in a database to determine if said identification information matches said stored information; and

instructions for generating a visual indication of whether said identification information matches said stored information.

19. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, said identification information comprising at least one of an identification name, an identification number, a manufacture name, a manufacture date, a date of first use, and a date of last update.

20. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, said instructions for comparing said identification information to information stored in a database comprising instructions for comparing identification information of items on the surgical instrument tray with identification information of items that are known to correspond with that surgical instrument tray.

21. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, said instructions for generating a visual indication of whether said identification information matches said stored information further comprising instructions for illuminating one of a green LED and a red LED.

22. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, further comprising instructions for generating a report when said identification information does not match said stored information.

23. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, further comprising instructions for writing new information to each of the transponder tags, said information including a date of current processing.